Episode 5: Dynamic Contrast

Welcome back to the blog, now with a new title and new series that you should take a look at in your free time. However, today's lesson is on dynamics and their importance. Dynamics is the volume of a note or series of a notes. Traditionally, volume is ranged from a Forte (f) to Piano (p). Forte means to play loudly, while piano means to play quietly. The range is controlled by either instantly changing music from being loud to soft and vice versa, or with a Crescendo (<) or a Decrescendo (>), which means going from one dynamic to the other Gradually. You can also write music as a crescendo from a piano to a forte or as a decrescendo from a forte to a piano. Just keep in mind that you need to keep the change within the style that you are playing, like a forte can't blast everyone's eardrums if you are playing a song that just needs to be under another part, but you need to play loud enough to be heard well.

Now, later on in music we move onto and see mf (Mezzo Forte) and mp (Mezzo Piano). Mezzo means to play moderately, or slightly less than (or more than) the dynamic. So for example, a mf would be read as a slightly less than forte, so you play under forte. For mp you should think it is moderately piano, so slightly louder than a piano. Finally, we get to extreme dynamics which are Fortissimo (and above) and Pianissimo (and below). Fortissimo, or ff, is the loudest you can get without making the tone sound bad.